LANSING, MI -- The Michigan Department of Community Health is asking tens of thousands of low-income residents to reapply for Medicaid coverage after they tried to sign up through the Affordable Care Act website over the past five months.

Healthcare.gov, marred by technical problems upon launch in October but since overhauled, is supposed to flag residents who would qualify for Medicaid and forward application data to the state, which administers the program.

But MDCH has been receiving only partial data files through the federal system, according to spokesperson Angela Minicuci, preventing the state from determining whether applicants qualify for Medicaid -- and delaying coverage for those who might.

The department is drafting a letter that will go out to all applicants asking them to reapply at the state's own Michigan Bridges website.

"We're working on contacting all of the individuals who have been told they may be eligible for Medicaid in Michigan through the federal exchange," said Minicuci. "We're asking them to reapply so that we can process them and determine if indeed they are eligible. There's a good chance many of them are already in the program."

The apparent website glitch has affected more than 57,000 applications and 84,000 residents since October. Michigan is hoping to process as many as possible by the end of the month and believes that other states have received similar flawed data.

Shawn Dhanak, state spokesperson for Enroll America, which is helping educate residents about the health care law, suggested residents who were told they might qualify for Medicaid on the federal website could also seek in-person assistance from a marketplace insurance expert.

"The glitches in the system are ongoing, they're frustrating to consumers and somewhat frustrating to us as well, but we hope they're going to be resolved soon, and we expect them to be," Dhanak said, noting the penalty-free enrollment deadline for individual coverage is fast approaching. "But it's important to note that 145,000 Michigan residents have already qualified for quality health coverage through private plans."

Problems with the traditional Medicaid applications come as Michigan prepares to launch a new program that will expand eligibility to hundreds of thousands of residents who earn up to 133 percent of the poverty level.

Gov. Rick Snyder and the Republican-led Legislature approved the "Healthy Michigan" plan to reform and expand Medicaid last year, but the state Senate denied the bill immediate effect, delaying implementation until at least April 1.

Michigan won federal approval to begin the expansion on the first of the month, but MDCH continues to test its systems and may not actually begin taking applications for the program -- which will require premiums and co-pays from new recipients -- until later in month.

The department will release more information on Healthy Michigan enrollment at a later date, according to Minicuci, who noted that Medicaid coverage for new recipients will apply retroactively to April 1.

The goal, she continued, is to avoid the type of problems the federal government has had and ensure that the state website will process applications and accurately determine eligibility on day one.

"We really want to make sure this rollout is as smooth as possible," Minicuci said.

Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter.